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Talk:Basket Case/@comment-3575890-20140227075434
I have never been more convinced than ever (actually, that's not entirely true. I've been completely convinced since as far back as 2A, but that's neither here nor there) that Aria is A. I know everyone is quick to write this theory off based on Aria's reaction to Ezra's betrayal, but this does not rule out Aria being A at all. All it DOES rule out is that she and Ezra have not been working together. Throughout this entire episode, all we've seen Aria do is spastically flip out on her friends and talk to them in an icy, withdrawn manner, black out with rage (which is not a brand new occurrence with Aria), and DESTROY evidence. I firmly believe Aria's trashing Ezra's apartment came from more than just feelings of spite, hurt and anger. She was purposefully discarding evidence. Notice how she didn't begin destroying Ezra's notes and work until she stumbled upon passages in Ezra's journal that potentially implicate her. I think Ezra is onto Aria. He knows she's A. In his writings he ponders about what he believes she might know about Ali's disappearance and even circles that part of it in red ink, and I think Aria now knows Ezra is onto her as well or that he at least knows more than he should. It's why she panics and starts destroying all of his findings, and even later still, is shown burning pages from his book in her fireplace. Ezra theorizes in his writing that one of the girls has something to do with Ali's disappearance and that is when Aria flips the fuck out. This episode serves to remind us of quite a few things about Aria. She can be icy and calculating. She has violent mood swings and occasionally exhibits symptoms of mental instability. Lately, we've been seeing a whole lot of this with Spencer as well, which is convenient timing. The idea is to criminalize Spencer to take the shade off Aria. I also honestly believe that the whole purpose of the Ezra plot reveal was simply to throw AriA theorists for a loop. What was once a cultish theory has become a widespread, commonly and rather overtly vocalized consensus that's spread like wildfire and gotten back to the show runners who obviously want to put a kabosh on it for now in order to preserve the element of mystery for the fans. But here's the thing; it's made abundantly clear that Aria is upset by Ezra's deceit and the fact that he's been sponging off her for information. But not specifically by the possibility that he could be A. In fact, Aria flat-out squashes this notion. She has no way of knowing Ezra isn't A, but she firmly insists to her friends that he isn't as if she knows this for indisputable fact. It's not coming from denial. She just as well readily concludes that Ezra never genuinely loved her (even though a passage in Ezra's journal clearly implies otherwise). She can accept the cold hard facts. Just not the part where Ezra is the big bad that's been stalking and tormenting her friends and that's because she can confirm he isn't being the big bad herself. This entire episode seemed to beat us over the head with the fact that Aria has a frighteningly ruthless, conniving side. She's quick to turn on loved ones of hers who cross her. I always found it unnerving and particularly telling how casually Aria switches gears when someone upsets her. This side of her comes out in subtle bouts rather than in overt extremities, but occasionally it surfaces in full force like when she dementedly threatened to out her dad's affair full well knowing what that would entail. Just the way she was willing to blackmail her own father without a single shred of hesitation revealed something much darker and sinister about Aria than what is perceptible on the surface. And we see that side of her again in this episode in how she at first adamantly defends Ezra against her friends' speculations about him being A, conveying that she honestly doesn't believe he is A and thus is not upset with him for that reason particularly, and then later is ready to have him carted off to jail for double crossing her. I mean, none of the other girls adamantly sought out revenge when they'd been double crossed by their significant others. Aria is shown to have a significantly different reaction - one that which comes from a much darker place and I think that show of dissimilarity is entirely intentional. The fact is that while the show runners don't want to draw added attention to Aria as a potential candidate for Big A, the idea is to get across that Aria stands alone from the other Liars. Her narrative is on a whole other plane most of the time, she's often isolated from the others, and she's always thrust under a spotlight in some underhanded way. Let's consider some things we know about Aria that implicate her: - she's the best liar of the girls - A never directly torments her - she frequently cheats on her significant others, yet A never uses her infidelities against her - she has been shown to occasionally suffer from episodes of anxiety, (which could stem from her possible MPD) paranoia, and psychosis; further evidence that she suffers from a mental disorder is that Byron once mentioned that mental illness runs in the Montgomery family. -the threatening messages didn't start until Aria returned from Iceland -there seems to be a connection between Aria's penchant for pigs and A's messing with the girls using pigs (the pig cupcakes, the dead pig in the car) -she is not above blackmail and threats, nor following through with them. She trashes her dad's office, casually threatens to have her dad fired, and then just about outs her relationship with Ezra with the intent to hurt him. She also has a well hidden violent streak, but occasionally it is shown to surface and when it does the result is explosive. - she has more phones than all of the girls combined. Why? - she is always wearing some sort of red/black combination, which as we know are signature A colors. This cannot be a coincidence. - she was the last person seen with Vivian Darkbloom's red coat - she loves black and white noir films; apparently so does A who was shown watching one at the end of an episode from not too long ago - this is completely subjective, but in all the promo pictures and even sometimes in episodes she is always making some strange "A" formation with her fingers. She does this so often that it cannot simply be a coincidence. A secret signal to her fellow A Team members perhaps? -what did Mona mean when she said, "Miss Aria, you are a killer. Not Ezra's wife"? Like seriously. What the hell was up with that riddle? - Aria has easy access to the typewriter on Ezra's apartment. Who else uses a typewriter occasionally? A. But of course, the biggest piece of evidence to date is at the ending of the episode in where we see A secluded away somewhere in a setting that looks very much like a cabin (didn't Ella once mention they have a private cabin somewhere?) with a mug of tea (Aria's go-to beverage) burning Ezra's work (just as Aria was shown doing earlier) RIGHT AFTER we'd seen Aria shadily pack up and skip town not willing to reveal to even a fellow Liar where she's going. As Spencer so eloquently put it about Ezra: she's freakin' A!